SSOWeek - June 2015
by Centeris2
Summary: The Star Stable Online community on Tumblr held a week long event (hosted by me), following a similar format as shipping weeks (like Zutara Week). These are the 'serious' set that I wrote. The other one is all Raptor-centric fics. The prompts were: Bay, Silence, Desire, Happiness, Gift, Green, Authority
1. Bay

Rebecca had been on her way to Fort Pinta, the key word being "had" as she had been on her way on Midnightwarrior until she heard a whinny from Doyle's Abby. It was not often that someone else visited the desolate church, and she was curious about what someone was doing in there. Perhaps they were tourists? Midnightwarrior easily turned and trotted into the overgrown ruin, ears pricked as he listened for others.

"Hello?" Rebecca called, weaving her dark horse through the fallen stones. She didn't hear anyone respond, but heard the clopping of hooves on rocks and cracking branches. Through the window of the church she saw a pair of ears go past, with no rider on the pony's back. Her horse snorted as she urged him around the church through the graves, and saw a little bay pony moving from bush to bush.

"Hello there, who do you belong to?" she asked, softer now to not startle the pony. The little mare swished her tail and looked at the horse and rider before she took off cantering. Rebecca followed, keeping the pony in sight while trying to fish out a carrot from her bag to try to lure the pony to her. The pony had no tack on, and it didn't even look like she had shoes. Was she wild, or had she escaped?

The little mare bucked and broke into a gallop, neighing all the while as though this were a game to her. She circled Jon Jarl's tomb twice before rushing down to the shore of the bay, kicking up her heels in little jumps.

It was on the sand that Rebecca pulled up on Midnightwarrior, stopping him and watching the pony. As expected, the mare continued on until realizing that she was not being followed. The bay pony looked back at the girl, trotting back before darting away again when Rebecca dismounted.

"Come here, silly. Are you an escapee?" Rebecca asked, not expecting an answer. The carrot offered to the pony tempted her into stepping closer and Rebecca took the chance to look for any brands or identifying marks on her. She knew that there were Jorvik Ponies for sale in Fort Pinta, the pony may have come from there. But first she wanted to get the pony to trust her.

"Here you go, I bet you like carrots," she smiled as the pony extended her neck as far as she could to snatch the carrot out of her hand. The pony snorted, chewing the carrot and sniffing for more when she had finished.

"Are you going to stay here, or do I have to get a rope on you?" Again, the pony didn't offer an answer, flicking her ears around and snorting. The pony pranced closer to Midnightwarrior, nose to the saddle bags and swishing her tail. The taller stallion smelled the little mare, making friends.

"Midnightwarrior, keep an eye on her, Fort Pinta isn't too far of a walk," Rebecca told her horse before she headed down the beach. Glancing back she saw the horse and pony walking around each other, the bay pony throwing in a buck and a rear trying to get the bigger horse to play.

One uneventful trip to see if the pony sellers were missing a pony (they weren't), asking James if anyone had reported a missing pony (no one had), and a quick stop at a store to buy a rope she found the pony still following Midnightwarrior around. They had wandered up into the grass, the dark horse munching while the pony grabbed bites between dashes around bushes.

"Glad to see you two getting along, come here sweetie," Rebecca approached the mare slowly with the rope in hand. The mare pinned her ears back and snorted, not happy to see the rope. When Rebecca took a step closer the pony backed away. The girl stopped, trying to decide what to do. No one had reported this pony missing, she could be wild. Or she wasn't from Fort Pinta. Perhaps the effort of catching the pony wasn't worth it, she could ask around to see if anyone was missing her first.

"Alright, forget the rope," she tucked the rope into a saddle bag and mounted up. The pony's ears went forward, watching the girl pull the stallion's head up from his grazing. He snorted but obliged, walking up to slope and back onto the road.

"What?" Rebecca turned and asked the pony who had decided to follow them. The mare stopped and looked away as though she had no idea what Rebecca was referring to. The girl turned around and moved her horse forward again, glancing back and seeing the pony following again. The mare stopped and looked away again when she realized Rebecca was looking.

"I'm going to Moorland to see if anyone owns you, I doubt you want to come along," Rebecca called back to the pony as though she would understand and moved Midnightwarrior into a canter. She could hear little hoof falls behind her, bouncing along behind them. Rebecca couldn't help but glance back and giggle at the pony. If the pony wanted to follow her she wasn't about to stop the mare, she was a cute and silly thing. Rebecca almost hoped that no one owned the mare so that Rebecca would be able to see her and maybe play with her sometime.


	2. Silence

Important little side note: In my little timeline that I've made for SSO the original Starshine Legacy games took place the year the first one was released (2005), and the events of SSO begin the year SSO was released (2011). This means Anne went missing in 2009 (two years prior to the SSO game start, as established in the quests in SSO when they talk about Anne). Using the grand invention that is a calculator, I'm operating as though 6 years have passed between SSL and SSO. This is important. I promise.

Six years ago.

He was assigned to a small little town on an island. It was called Jorvik, and for some reason his bosses thought that it was absolutely important that they send him there to check on some suspicious activity. Part of him thought that this was a joke, but the camera they gave him to use suggested otherwise. The camera was special, everything about it had to be specially made, and some of that involved very dangerous missions that had cost them good people.

Whatever was in Jorvik was serious, and his bosses thought that he was the perfect one to find out what was going on. But he didn't understand what he was going to find going undercover as a scout for a fashion model agency. He should be sneaking around some dangerous facility where he could be shot and killed, not setting up in a school to photograph eager girls hoping for a breakthrough.

Although truth be told, this was the first time an assignment had him near girls within his age range, and some of the students were eyeing him with a similar interest.

"Hi there, I'm your new model," a proud girl told him as soon as she saw him. She told him her name was Jessica, and she was lean with black hair held up in a pony tail and green eyes that bore into a person, challenging you to even consider saying no to her. He was polite and sidestepped her declaration, taking her pictures and wishing her luck in the competition to win the spot with Glamour No. 5.

And then he saw her.

Her name was Anne, he could tell her confidence in approaching him was desperately trying to hide her nerves. But she was earnest and excited, and something about her seemed to click with him.

He told her his name was Derek, and she smiled with a blush and nodded when he asked her if she was ready to take some pictures.

It was no surprise to him when the photos he took of her showed that she had an aura, but he had not expected the photographs to reveal her horse's essence as well. As far as he knew the camera only worked on humans, and yet the pictures revealed Anne glowing like the sun and Concorde with wings flared out in a proud salute.

She won the competition and became Glamour No. 5's new model, and his bosses wanted him to keep an eye on her. They knew there was something about her, and the other girls and their horses of Jorvik, that was important.

He didn't mind the assignment to stay in Jorvik. Neither did Anne.

Four Years Ago

It was difficult between them, distance made it difficult. As he had expected, Anne had proven herself with Concorde and now competed on an international level. He did not see her often anymore, but they wrote letters. The few times she could return to Jorvik rarely matched up with when Derek had time off from his own job. Anne never went into detail about what happened two years prior, but the suspicious activity suddenly stopped and his bosses had grown bored and reassigned him. Sometimes he was able to see her compete when they were in the same country, other times they were only able to communicate through a computer screen or a letter.

But they made it work. It wouldn't always be like this, they promised each other. They would find a way to see each other more often, somehow they would make their schedules match up so they could be together properly, without countries and seas between them.

Two Years Ago

She didn't call to tell him the results of her France competition. He thought it was just because of how tired she must have been, or perhaps she was busy with parties and interviews with reporters.

But it was strange, the silence of his phone unnerved him. Normally she called as soon as she could to tell him all about how her dressage performance went, who she had been up against, how well she had done, what she could improve on, how Concorde was doing.

It wasn't until the next day that he opened the paper and saw a small article tucked away in the pages of the crisp paper:

"Dressage Rider Disappears"

There was nothing more than a short paragraph saying that Anne and her horse had failed to appear in the ring when they were called, and there was no trace of them to be found anywhere at the event, the stables, or her hotel room.

A few sentences. Written impersonally and with no feeling. Nothing more than a "well isn't that strange, a person and her horse just vanished! And now the weather."

He felt sick. After calling everyone he could think of, after trying to pull every string, call in every favor, he was left empty handed. After begging his bosses to let him return to Jorvik, let him go to France and try to find her, try to find some trace of her, they finally officially reassigned him to work in Jorvik once more. On the books they said it was a reassignment to follow up on the mysterious activities happening in the area, but he had a feeling they pitied him and thought he would be too distracted to be of use to them anywhere else.

He no longer had the camera, that had long been returned to his bosses, but they set him up with a postal position in Silverglade. It was a central location, and the mail was an excellent way to keep track of the going ons of the island. He didn't complain, it was perfect. He didn't think he would be able to handle being at Jorvik Stables again, or see her friends. It would hurt too much.

Present Day

Somewhere in his heart he had hoped he would see her again. He half expected a letter written in neat cursive to appear in the mail for him, saying that she was fine. He spent every night listening to different frequencies, checking the radio waves for any suspicious activity that might be connected to her. He reported countless things of interest to his bosses, but they weren't about her. Dark Core was up to something, but that didn't matter to him besides the fact that it was his job to monitor them and all other major energy consumers on Jorvik. He never changed her ringtone, he couldn't help but pray that one day it would ring and she would be on the line. There were nights when he was so lost he could swear he heard her voice through the static of the radio, calling for help.

But there was nothing but radio silence.


	3. Desire

Today, Rebecca had led Midnightwarrior to the winery to help The Baroness with the various tasks that came with running a profitable winery. Midnightwarrior was less than thrilled, but did not mind the break as Rebecca walked up and down the terraces collecting grapes. He had been left at the stable, although she knew he would wander off into the nearby field if he felt so inclined. The Jorvik warmblood always came back when she called, she would not be upset with him for walking off.

She was out of sight but the horse knew she would return before too much longer. His tack had been left on, as it would have been a waste to take it off and put it back on when she would not be riding him for such a short period. This did, however, make his sniffing more difficult.

He was reaching back toward one of the saddle bags, he knew she had gotten apples today as a reward for helping someone. He could smell the sweet fruit, but he couldn't quite reach it. If she had taken the saddle bags off of him he would have stuck his nose in and smelled out the delicious treats, but as it was he would have to be inventive. But first, he needed someone with opposable thumbs.

He located one of the stable girls and did his best to look pitiful, putting his head down and whinning weakly at her to get her attention. The girl, currently trying to muck out the stalls, looked at the horse in confusion, not noticing him before.

"Where did you come from? Aren't you Rebecca's?" she asked, extending her hand as he stepped closer, making sure that his hooves barely left the ground and letting them scrap up the floor.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" the horse huffed into her hand and turned his head to the saddle on his back, trying to bite it.

"She left your tack on? How long have you been standing around with your saddle on! She didn't even loosen the girth! No wonder you are miserable, poor baby…" the girl got angry and dropped her tools, loosening the girth and unloading the saddle bags. The stable girl seemed surprised by the weight and made a little yelp as she dropped to the ground along with the saddlebag.

"Ugh, I'm going to find Rebecca and give her a talking to! What kind of idiot makes her horse suffer like that! That is such a newbie move…" the girl declared after recomposing herself, storming out of the stable. If horses could laugh Midnightwarrior would have, and with the girl out of sight he stuck his nose into the saddlebag, sniffing.

After managing to spill the contents of the bag, leaving clothes and random tools strewn across the floor, Midnightwarrior happily munched the apples stored in the bag. The dark horse only flicked an ear back when he heard the stable girl lecturing Rebecca, their voices coming closer. Rebecca sounded defensive at the girl's aggressive scolding, and Midnightwarrior hoped she wouldn't be angry once she realized what he had done. If anything, his human had a sense of humor, and he hoped it would apply to this case.

"Ah yes, I can see my horse is suffering terribly," he heard his human cut the girl's lecture short, and he lifted his head to look at them. The stable girl looked confused at the mess on the floor.

"You really wanted those apples, didn't you? You little trickster. Maybe you should have been called Trickster, or Loki. A name like that," Rebecca chided her horse, reaching down and stuffing her clothes back into the bag. He nuzzled her, getting her hair covered in apple bits and slobber.

"Wait, he used me?" the stable girl stammered in shock as Rebecca batted away the nose.

"He knows what he wants, and it's fine you doof just stop slobbering on me!" the first part was directed to the girl, the second to her horse that was drooling on her. Midnightwarrior shook his head, looking away innocently. He stood still as Rebecca placed the tack on him once more and tightened the girth, behaving for her after that little stunt. She patted his nose and walked out of the stable, her horse falling into step behind his human.

"You were going to get those tonight, you know, I thought you'd want to wait until after your bit was out before you ate," Rebecca joked, smiling when her horse rested his head on her shoulder.


	4. Happiness

Rebecca sat on the beach near the Golden Hills stable, looking out over the waves she had crossed earlier that day. There was a lot on her mind, what with Dark Core and Justin, and it hadn't all set in yet. She had removed Midnightwarrior's tack, and he had happily bucked a few times and rolled in the sand. But after that he had stood next to her, watching the ocean with her. Most evenings when they were done for the day he would wander off a ways to graze, but tonight he stuck close to her side.

The dark stallion occasionally breathed on her, blowing her hair as though to make sure she was still there before lifting his head again.

Out there, somewhere, was the Dark Core Drill platform that Mr Sands and the others were on. She couldn't quite believe that this was all real, it seemed more like a dream or a movie than reality. Rebecca couldn't remember a time in her life when she was as scared as she had been when she had to watch Midnightwarrior get loaded up and taken away. She was sure that she was going to be caught by one of the goons and unceremoniously thrown off the platform and into the ocean to her death. But somehow she had managed to not get caught and escape with her life, and her horse, as well as valuable information that the druids would need to hear. For now it seemed that Justin was not going to want to be rescued, as it had sounded like he had his memories tampered with. She wondered how she was supposed to fight an enemy that could manipulate minds, who knew what else Dark Core could do.

Midnightwarrior gave her a nudge, not happy that she seemed lost in thought. She idly scratched his nose until he gave her a harder shove, completely knocking her over.

"Hey! What was that for?" she asked from the ground. The horse pawed the sand and nosed her face and stomach, making her giggle. He knew she was upset, but more importantly he had been worried about her too. He hadn't liked being locked away from her, unable to help her, and he knew his human felt guilt that she had used him as bait. But now he was able to make her laugh and shove him away. The horse snorted and pranced into the water before bouncing back to her in a trot. She rolled her eyes but tossed her shoes and socks away. He tucked in one leg and extended the other so that she did not need anything to help her mount him, and with her on his back he stood and walked into the water.

"Alright, what do you want to do?" her horse answered by cantering through the waves along the beach, taking her from the ocean side of the side to the eastern side that faced the cliffs. To her surprise he galloped and left into the water, pleased that his human was laughing on his back, her fingers tightly gripping his mane as he swam to a small beach. The girl recognized the beach, but not because she had been on it before. She had seen it from the stable island and had wondered how to get over to it, it wasn't connected to the shore near the bridge to Cape West Fishing Village. But the faithful steed did not stop at the beach, he continued carrying her up a path up the side of the cliff until he stopped at the top. It was a grassy location, flat with a few trees and the remains of a camp fire stop. There was also a large cave, and she wondered if there were any supplies in there, like flint to start a fire.

With Midnightwarrior stopped, she slid off of him, looking out over the ocean from the higher vantage point. She couldn't help but smile, the sun was almost set and the stars were just starting to come out. To her left she could see the fishing village, lights slowly coming on in windows as the sunlight faded. She rubbed her horse's neck and gave him a kiss before she sat down once more.

"Thanks for bringing me here," she told him. He snorted in response, looking up at the sky and the appearing stars before he began to graze. Rebecca cracked a smile at that before she leaned back, resting in the grass and looking up at the stars. She would deal with Dark Core and the approaching end of the world tomorrow, for now she just wanted to enjoy this.


	5. Gift

"Okay, easy does it…" she whispered as she carefully stroked the bird, nudging it into her hand.

"I just need a few of your colorful feathers…" she continued saying to the bird as though it understood her. The red bird twittered, hopping onto the palm of her hand looking around for seeds. Cautiously she raised her hand, looking into the nest to see if there were any bright red feathers. Seeing one, she reached in and grabbed it, but not before getting squawked at and a flutter of wings in her face. But she had accomplished her mission to retrieve some red feathers. The bird was still squawking at her as she ran away, thanking the bird even though the bird clearly did not appreciate the gratitude.

"I think that just about does it!" Rebecca declared, showing her horse the feathers. Midnightwarrior seemed unimpressed and returned to grazing while Rebecca assessed her inventory. She had feathers from multiple different birds, red, blue, and yellow ones as bright as she could find them. Before the feathers she had gone to the beach and gotten filled a bottle full of sand. Before that she had borrowed a pick ax to find lapis lazuli and had collected several large gemstones. She added the feathers to the collection of things and ran off to collect wild flowers that grew in the forest, leaving her horse to munch on grass. There were already roses from the Winery, but she wasn't satisfied until she had more flowers, pinks and yellows and purples. Midnightwarrior was quite sure what sort of human ritual this was that she was performing, but he knew he needed to eat as much fresh grass as he could before she finished collection flowers.

She returned with an armful of flowers, wrapping them in a blanket before she put it in a saddle bag. Next she changed clothes, putting on much thicker clothes and changing her horse's tack to a set that would be better for snow.

They didn't waste time heading into the valley, she wanted to flowers to be as fresh as possible, and Midnightwarrior wanted to get to shelter as soon as possible. They ran down the snowy path, not stopping at the campsite, and continued on the trail through the winter wilderness until they reached at gate made of stone.

"Greetings, Rebecca! Have you come to trade?" Nanook called to her when she came into view. She waved and shook her head, letting Midnightwarrior go directly into the shelter with the Fjord horses. Once her horse was out of the wind and snow she dismounted and grabbed the bag.

"I don't have anything to trade today, but I did bring you some gifts! I thought you might like seeing something from, well, beyond the Valley," she explained, offering the bag to the pair of Kallters. They glanced at each other but took the bag with interest.

"I don't know how often you see flowers that aren't white or blue…" Rebecca commented as they first unraveled the blanket holding the slightly bruised wildflowers. They spoke to each other in their own language, but from their tone and expressions she gathered that they appreciated the flowers at the very least, maybe even a little surprised to see such bright colors. They were particularly interested in the deep redness of the roses, and she wondered if they ever saw such a color aside from blood.

"Oh, that's a bottle of sand from the ocean, I just thought you might like it," they studied the bottle, rolling it in their hands. Sedna opened the bottle and poured some of it onto her hand, removing a glove so she could feel the fine texture. While Sedna closed the bottle, Nanook picked up one of the lapis lazuli.

"I'm not sure if you have lapis lazuli here, I've only seen the kallstones. Unfortunately, the gemstones don't have any magic or energy, they're just pretty to look at," Nanook turned the stone over, looking at it from all angles, before he passed it over to Sedna to inspect. She put it up against one of the Fjords, seeing how the stone looked with the horse's coat color.

"The last thing is feathers. I'm sure there are birds here but I've never seen any in the valley with those colors," Nanook chuckled at that statement and shook his head, feeling the delicate feathers with his fingers.

"Correct, they would not blend in with these hues," he replied, speaking a language she could understand once more. She smiled at that, twisting her hands as she waited for something. She wasn't sure what, but she was hoping for a reaction of some sort.

"These are fine things you have given us, we thank you for your gifts to us," Nanook said in his formal manner and Rebecca smiled and nodded.

"You can't really use them, I know, but I'm glad you at least like to look at them," she said apologetically, knowing the flowers would be dead and faded soon.

"Perhaps, we do not waste what we have. If you, by chance, would like to bring us more gifts, we may be able to offer you a fair trade for the objects," Nanook said as he touched one of the Fjords, actions deliberate to convey the underlying message. She grinned at looked at her own horse, not sure anything could make her take on another horse besides him.

"Thank you for the offer, I will try to bring you more soon," she said as she mounted up on her horse once more.


	6. Green

Elizabeth smiled at the beautiful day in Valedale. It was early morning, the birds were chirping, the breeze smelled of sweet flowers, the Silversong river flowed under the bridge, and the sun was shining without a cloud in sight. She took in a deep breath, stretching her arms out and letting the sunlight warm her skin. After a moment of standing outside of her house she stopped lollygagging and walked up the path leading into the woods. In her arms she carried a basket with a bottle tucked inside, she needed to collect dew and flowers for Avalon.

She loved how green it was near her home, the forest was vibrant with life and the song of nature. Each tree and flower reminded her of the beauty of Aideen's gift to them, and with reverence she collected dew from the sacred flowers. The Hollow Woods was peaceful, filled with quiet rustling of animals going on about their day and birds singing their songs. In the distance she could hear a horse cantering along the path, no doubt someone on an early morning ride. Elizabeth hoped it would be Rebecca, she had some things that the girl could help with.

"ACHOO!" the sound startled her so much she almost dropped the bottle in her hands, and was followed by a long series of sneezes that ended with a groan and someone blowing their nose. She looked at the rider on the now halted horse and saw Rebecca rubbing her face.

"Rebecca!" she called to the girl, getting her attention. Rebecca looked up and saw Elizabeth in the flowers. Midnightwarrior turned and trotted up to the druid, not needing any guidance from his human who was currently busy wiping her nose.

"It's a terrible day to have a cold, it is going to be such a beautiful day. So bright and green, and the flowers are all blooming, it's wonderful," Elizabeth started off apologetically before she got carried away looking at all the nature around her.

"Oh I've noticed. It's horrid," Rebecca snorted in response, digging out another tissue from a pack in her pocket. Elizabeth looked at her in shock.

"I thought you enjoyed nature, you've help me tend to the flowers so many times!" the druid couldn't help but be appalled at the idea that someone like Rebecca didn't like nature. It didn't make sense, she always helped the druids against Dark Core and Garnok, and part of that included helping nature.

"I hate it when I'm out of allergy medicine. My prescription was supposed to come in a few days ago, but my refill hasn't arrived yet," the rider explained, and Elizabeth gave an understanding 'ahh' and a nod. There was something terribly unreliable about the delivery system in Jorvik. Rebecca sneezed again and groaned, holding a tissue to her nose.

"I will not ask you to help me outside today in that case, and I hope your package comes in soon. Perhaps there is someone who needs your help indoors?" Elizabeth suggested before she tilted her head slightly. Rebecca was holding the tissue to her nose for quite a while.

"Or perhaps I can check and see if I have any recipes that will help with allergies?" she offered the miserable girl who nodded.

"That would be wonderful, allergies are a terrible thing," Rebecca said, taking another tissue from her pack. Elizabeth was startled to see bright red when Rebecca carefully removed one tissue from her nose and replaced it with the fresh one.

"Are you alright?" she demanded, eyes fixed on the bloody tissue.

"Yea, this happens every day when I don't have medication. This is why I prefer winter and fall, there isn't anything green trying to kill me. If you have some magic or potions to help I would greatly appreciate it. It's hard to ride while bleeding profusely from my nose…" Elizabeth nodded, still staring at the blood as she hastily stood and gathered her things. Rebecca just sat back on Midnightwarrior, not holding the reins at all as he followed the druid to help his rider.


	7. Authority

There was a strange sort of draw to working for the GED. While Rebecca was fully aware that she was playing a dangerous game pretending to work for Ms. Drake there was something about the woman that she liked. She should have been intimidated by the power the woman had, but the woman had a directness about her that she liked. Ms. Drake didn't beat around the bush or present herself as a nice person to do business with as Mr. Kembell did. She was straightforward and did not care if you liked her or not, she only cared about results and respect. Maybe it was that lack of fear that impressed Ms. Drake enough to allow Rebecca to work for her. All free labor, of course, she wasn't good enough to be hired by GED. Yet.

But in some small part Ms. Drake trusted Rebecca, and that was all she needed to keep GED from finding what they were looking for in Jorvik. Not to mention it meant no GED workers ever heckled her, like Dark Core goons did on occasion.

At first the workers at the GED sites hadn't taken her seriously, if anything they were confused by a girl riding into their work area and issuing demands. They had laughed at her until they realized she was completely serious about being sent by Ms. Drake, staring at them with an impassive mask waiting for them to stop wasting her time. Even Midnightwarrior had gotten into the act, he strutted into the work sites, pinned his ears back whenever a worker got close, and carried himself with as much pride and haughtiness that he could gather. There had even been a few occasions where he had made at snap or kick at one of the workers, using his size to intimidate insolent workers when Rebecca could not. In a matter of weeks all GED workers around Jarlahiem recognized her, rushing to work whenever she came into sight in fear of getting reported to Ms. Drake.

"Coffee, black as your soul. And I have the latest samples from Beta," Rebecca said as she rode up to Ms. Drake's office. The businesswoman looked up at her with what passed as a grateful smile from a heartless human being. She took the offered drink, taking a sip before rubbing her head.

"You are the only person on this wretched island I can tolerate, Rebecca," Ms. Drake complained as the rider dismounted and retrieved the samples from her saddlebag.

"More calls from the higher ups?" Ms. Drake took the samples and looked at them, grimacing at the ordinary rocks.

"I need results, and these fools aren't producing any," and there was a window for Rebecca to work.

"Maybe there isn't anything there? They may be incompetent fools, but even a team of monkeys would have found something by now," Rebecca suggested and saw the flash of doubt in the woman's eyes. Good, if she could get Ms. Drake spooked enough maybe she could get her to back out of Jarlahiem. Manipulation was a long process, but all good things come to those who wait.

"No, I know there is something here. I saw the original samples from Jorvik myself. It's sabotage," Ms. Drake snarled and Rebecca did everything she could to not look worried.

"Sabotage, by who? Everyone who works for you fears you too much to try something," she had a feeling Ms. Drake did not mean her, not with the way Ms. Drake lowered her voice as though sharing a secret with her.

"The underlings wouldn't dare. But the locals are stupid enough to cross me," Rebecca's back relaxed, she hadn't realized she had tensed up.

"After everything Kembell did I'm not surprised. He ruined the name of GED here on Jorvik after Hillcrest, not to mention everything else he did in Silverglade and Moorland," Ms. Drake smiled at that, eyes fixed on Rebecca as the woman slowly smelled her coffee and took a drink, not taking her eyes off of Rebecca. She couldn't help but feel nervous at what was coming next.

"Yes, I've heard some interesting things about you and Kembell," her sentence trailed off, and her smiled turned into one you might expect a dragon wearing before eating its victim. She was visibly startled when Rebecca laughed instead of fumbling.

"Yes, I'm sure there are many interesting records of Kembell and I. He pissed me off, and he's still paying for it," Rebecca explained in a vicious smile that made Ms. Drake look at her with something close to pride.

"You may not be having much luck here, but at least you aren't getting into the trouble Kembell has had. I'm sure GED has gotten quite fed up with his legal violations, they'll have to fire him soon with all the bad publicity and fees he's racking up," Rebecca continued and actually got a laugh out of Ms. Drake, much to the confusion of all the GED workers within earshot.

"And to think, when I first saw you I thought you were a spineless pup. You're much more devious and ambitious than you let on, Rebecca, keep it up and you'll do well in the company," Ms. Drake complimented her.

"If I keep it up Kembell will be out of a job and living in disgrace, which probably means a promotion for you," Rebecca teased the woman, getting a smirk and skeptical raised eyebrow in response

"And what's in it for you?"

"Revenge. Not to mention the people over there love me for what I've done, you'll need me to repair public relations."

"I only need their fear," Ms. Drake growled, not good at using anything other than force to get her way.

"Their fear of you and GED as a whole has only gotten you sabotage and interference, but they trust me, they will listen to me. Fear is useful for employees, but not locals and business partners," the girl couldn't help be smile as she thought of how well Ms. Drake was playing into her hands.

"Ahh, I see, you want the power," Ms. Drake surmised, looking at Rebecca with a sort of fondness as the girl mounted up.

"I prefer to use the term 'authority,' it sounds less ominous and holds more legal connotations," Rebecca replied, using her fingers to emphasis the word authority. She nodded to her boss in farewell, grinning to herself. The GED site workers weren't the only ones who she held influence over, although it was much more subtle with Ms. Drake.


End file.
